Mocha

Some members of mainstream media have been frothing in the mouth at this lady for scoring an exclusive interview with the Incoming President. What, a “sexy entertainer” out scooping ‘legitimate journalists’ for a full, albeit edited, 15-minute audience with The Digong? A ‘TH’-blogger with 20 million hits outsmarting the big names in news and broadcast media? I say, eat your hearts out.

What you sow, so shall you reap. If you planted ill will, do you expect to gather good seed? Nope, it is not retribution (vis-à-vis Duterte’s ‘justification’ as to death penalty for heinous crimes) or vengefulness (the favorite word to use against the Outgoing President). It is about putting people in their right places. ‘With great power comes great responsibility’. Media has become too powerful even for their own good, the kaakibat (paboritong bigkasin ng mga TV news reader these days) responsibility is now just an afterthought.

So, Mocha Uson (yes, the lady has a full name) delivered to the Incoming President a list of concerns aired by some of her 3.7 million followers on Facebook (who among you, media high horses and casual critics have at least 1,000 ‘likers’, fans, or whatchamacallit on your numerous accounts in social network sites?) and the latter gave more than a perfunctory look at the papers given to him – he granted Mocha an impromptu exclusive interview. What more can a much-maligned, routinely looked down upon (because of her livelihood? Or lack of high society DNA?) “sexy entertainer” dressed in decent clothes and speaking respectfully to a person in authority ask for?

A legitimate SCOOP. Because the new President. Does not want to speak directly. To mainstream media anymore. For reasons. Everybody now knows. And which unbelievers. Continue to twist and turn. To suit their own purposes. Who cares? But their own kind. And the rest of us. Who voted for change. Don’t give a hoot.

The ‘scoop’? President Duterte said the owner of ABS CBN (he actually mentioned the Lopez scion’s name) attempted to bribe him to grant Sky Cable a permit to operate in Davao City, saying that they were apprehensive because the existing cable operator was a friend of the mayor. Pissed off, the mayor asked for a blank application form, signed it and waved them off. He told the interviewer to put it on record that Lopez said Davao was the only place in the country where they did not have to do a payoff.

(Not that we have not known long before where local executives get their ‘extra’ income, but now that President Duterte has confirmed it, should we look at our mayors, governors, congressmen and senators – even barangay captains – in a whole new different light or do we say, what else is new?)

Going back to Mocha Uson. Those who have been judging her based on an intermittent and cursory browsing of her blog entries presumably don’t know her back story and why she supported the erstwhile Davao City mayor during the past campaign, volunteering her and her group’s services in sorties all over the country. It might not be worth anything to people comfortably ensconced in their ivory towers but where she’s coming from, many in the peripheries can relate.

Her father was assassinated by four men riding in tandem. A brave and makabayan (Mocha’s own words) regional trial court judge who took a case no one would touch by a ten-foot pole because it involved a notorious gang backed up by politicians in their province. The gang leader was sent to jail and in the ‘normal’ course of things in this unfortunate republic of ours, good men die when evil men decide that good must not triumph over evil.

So, yes, Mocha Uson saw her father in Mayor Duterte. But malicious minds imply something more degenerate. That is their lookout, though. Harboring resentment towards a stranger is not good for the wrinkles.

And by the way, the Incoming President addressed her as “Ma’am”.

(For more insights on Mocha Uson, go to -http://www.philstar.com/supreme/2016/06/11/1591614/night-mocha-uson)

One thought on “Mocha”

During the campaign, she was just another ordinary “blogger”, although her name recall as a “sexy entertainer” attracted some followers. Before long, however, she became the self-described “Media ni Duterte”. Mainly because mainstream media would not publish still pictures and show live videos of the huge crowds lining the streets where Candidate Duterte’s motorcades would pass and the throngs of people who would attend his rallies all over the archipelago. Which were spontaneous at hindi po hakot.

Mocha’s blog was the go-to site for Duterte followers who were ‘hungry’ for news on what’s happening in the Duterte campaign. Kasi po, mainstream media, your embedded reporters focused more on Duterte’s expletives rather than the message of ‘country first’ that he was trying to convey. Those were the things that she shared in her Facebook page – videos on Duterte’s campaign speeches in all the places that he visited which were all cramped with people. And those were “lies” and “fabrications”?

Her followers grew in large numbers until the apologists of the previous regime found out, a bit too late, that her “believers” have reached over four million. For one, the apologists were hard to justify the pathetic scene in Hong Kong where Mocha and her group were performing before a large crowd of overseas Filipinos while a stone’s throw away, a sprinkling of Roxas supporters were seen trying to comfort their standard bearer while he sat slumped on a concrete bench perhaps trying to figure out what the hell was happening. And DU30 was not even there. Did a single media outlet show that “picture”?

And by the way, the holier-than-thou had been dismissing the Mocha Girls in the meanest terms possible when in truth, they were just a group of hard-working girls volunteering their services for free in favor of a candidate that they believed in. Masyado tayong mapang-husga pero ang totoo, mas makatao pa sila kaysa sa atin.

Mocha might have ‘shared’ a few links which were of dubious origins but, what the heck, who hasn’t done so in an era of pretense and deceit when it is easy to fall for crap without giving it a moment’s thought? The lady is admittedly not a journalist, but even journalists do not always report the truth. So?

So Mocha is now a multi-media phenom. Blame yourselves, media oligarchs. You have created your own monster.